State hospital plan draws concern

Cuomo administration sees savings, but others fear effect of closings

Updated 10:19 pm, Wednesday, February 27, 2013

Photo: Cindy Schultz

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Commissioner Courtney Burke of the NYS Office for People with Developmental Disabilities speaks before the Joint Budget Hearing on Wednesday, Feb. 27, 2013, at the Capitol in Albany, N.Y. (Cindy Schultz / Times Union) less

Commissioner Courtney Burke of the NYS Office for People with Developmental Disabilities speaks before the Joint Budget Hearing on Wednesday, Feb. 27, 2013, at the Capitol in Albany, N.Y. (Cindy Schultz / Times ... more

Photo: Cindy Schultz

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Assemblyman Harvey Weisenberg, center, questions Commissioner Courtney Burke of the NYS Office for People with Developmental Disabilities during the Joint Budget Hearing on Wednesday, Feb. 27, 2013, at the Capitol in Albany, N.Y. (Cindy Schultz / Times Union) less

Assemblyman Harvey Weisenberg, center, questions Commissioner Courtney Burke of the NYS Office for People with Developmental Disabilities during the Joint Budget Hearing on Wednesday, Feb. 27, 2013, at the ... more

Photo: Cindy Schultz

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Sen. Timothy M. Kennedy, left, questions Commissioner Courtney Burke of the NYS Office for People with Developmental Disabilities during the Joint Budget Hearing on Wednesday, Feb. 27, 2013, at the Capitol in Albany, N.Y. At right is Sen. David Carlucci. (Cindy Schultz / Times Union) less

Sen. Timothy M. Kennedy, left, questions Commissioner Courtney Burke of the NYS Office for People with Developmental Disabilities during the Joint Budget Hearing on Wednesday, Feb. 27, 2013, at the Capitol in ... more

Photo: Cindy Schultz

State hospital plan draws concern

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ALBANY — As part of his 2013-14 budget plan, Gov. Andrew Cuomo wants to be able to close an as-yet undetermined number of state-run psychiatric centers.

While the administration says that would save money and lead to more effective community-based services for the mentally ill, lawmakers and unions say the lack of detail in the plan is troubling.

Legislators at a Wednesday budget hearing peppered administration officials with questions about the proposal. They also questioned a plan, reported in the Times Union, to trim 6 percent from funding for nonprofit private providers of services and residences for developmentally disabled New Yorkers.

"I'm very concerned that the 6 percent cut is going to take us back to the days of Willowbrook," said freshman Democratic Sen. Terry Gipson of the Hudson Valley, referring to the notorious facility at which conditions had sunk so low that media exposure led to a statewide overhaul of care.

The state Office for People with Developmental Disabilities works with nonprofits that serve the disabled, while the Office of Mental Health serves those with mental illness and operates state psychiatric hospitals.

Plans to close the psychiatric hospitals are still being finalized, stressed Kristin Woodlock, acting commissioner of OMH.

Where hospitals are phased out, they would be replaced by new "Centers of Excellence" that would provide treatment and support for those in need of psychiatric care.

Lawmakers, however, wondered if there are enough residential facilities or other housing to accept people coming from closed hospitals.

And union officials said talk of the closures has rattled workers in state hospitals. They also said they feared the closures, if not done carefully, could overload local communities' ability to care for the mentally ill.

Some county sheriffs agree, noting that their jails are often filled with mentally ill people who, lacking proper treatment, run into trouble and get arrested even though they aren't hardened criminals.

"A lot of these people probably don't belong in there," said Albany County Sheriff Craig Apple, who noted that the county jail even has a special mental health annex. He joined a group of union officials during a news conference after the budget hearing.

Currently, OMH operates more than 20 facilities serving 2,800 inpatient adults. That's a significant drop from the more than 20,000 people in state facilities in the 1990s, and represents the ongoing decades-long trend of deinstitutionalization, or placing mentally ill people in their home communities and offering support rather than having them live their lives in institutions.

But even the 2,800 may be too many — and too expensive, given the high costs of caring for people in institutions. New York still operates more psychiatric centers than other states.

Woodlock said she and top OMH officials will next month begin touring the state on a "listening tour," to gather ideas for design of the new Centers of Excellence.